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government departments to enforce the relevant legislation. For instance, when the Buildings Ordinance Office handles complaints about obstructions on streets, or when the Transport Department plans to improve traffic conditions, wall stalls often pose obstacles. At a meeting of the Wanchai District Board, in response to an allegation by a District Board (DB) Member that Crown land was illegally occupied, an officer from the Lands Department said, 'Why did the Urban Services Department issue licence to the operator and allow him to do business on the pavement? In this case, how can I drive him away?' The Wan Chai DB members could then only stare at each other in blank dismay and became speechless. I also wonder how Mr. Chairman would answer such an embarrassing question. On the other hand, some licencees or landlords are making profit by letting the wall stalls, while some licencees have taken the advantage of land resumption for redevelopment purposes to claim huge compensation from the developers. Many years ago, a wall stall licencee in Pennington Street claimed a compensation of $1.8 million from the developer. The Urban Services Department often gets involuntarily involved in these civil proceedings, and is mistakenly accused of being an 'accomplice'.
Secondly, wall stall licences are no longer in keeping with the times. Wall stalls are mostly found in older districts. However, in recent years, Hong Kong has witnessed rapid development and is now characterised by clusters of high-rises and a dense population. There are fewer spaces for pedestrians, and a scramble for the right of way between pedestrians and vehicles is thus commonly seen. The very presence of wall stall licences makes it difficult for the authorities concerned to draw up a coherent set of measures for street management, so cases like 'One street, two systems' did happen in the past.
Thirdly, wall stalls are not so useful in meeting the needs of the public in their daily life. With the exception of frozen meat, goods sold at wall stalls are virtually the same as those sold in markets managed by the Urban Services Department or other hawker pitches. Therefore, people can easily get their daily necessities even without the wall stalls.
Mr. Chairman, the second issue that I am concerned about is that the authorities concerned should keep dogs under strict control.
Dogs are kept by human beings as pets or even considered their most loyal friends. However, if dog owners do not control their dogs properly and let them wander about and excrete on the streets, our environmental hygiene will be adversely affected. Moreover, it will be a threat to human life if the dogs suddenly run wild. Therefore, I think that the existing legislation must be revised and improved. In this connection, I would like to make three suggestions:
(1) The clause on dogs 'not under the proper control of the keeper' as laid down in the existing legislation must be strictly enforced by the authorities concerned.
(2) When a dog becomes 5 months old, its owner should bring it to the Agriculture and Fisheries Department's kennel for licensing and inoculation. The licensed dog should then be given a tag engraved with a code denoting the dog owner's particulars. To facilitate identification by the departments concerned, dog owners have to tag their dogs whenever they take them out to the streets.
(3) Applicants for dog licence must reach the legal age.
The third issue that I am concerned about is the management of hawkers and streets. However, as my colleague Mr. San Stephen WONG Hon-ching has already talked about this subject, I am not going to repeat it. Besides, I concur with the Hon. LI Wah-ming on the issue of 'Three Challenges' which he mentioned on the 11th. Actually, it is also a problem faced by Wan Chai, the DB constituency to which I belong, but I am not going to harp on it again.
Mr. Chairman, with these remarks, I support your motion.
MR. IP KWOK-CHUNG (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, the political system and people's livelihood are the major concerns of everybody in Hong Kong. In the last annual debate, I expressed my views on these issues. This year, I would like to talk about the two issues again.
In respect of the political system, it is regrettable that as a result of the Governor Mr. Chris PATTEN's wrong judgement and the United Kingdom's policy towards China which has changed to one of non-cooperation, the Sino-British talks on the political system of Hong Kong have come to an end and the tenure of our three tiers of representative government will terminate on 30 June 1997. Convergence will not take place. That will be a misfortune for the three tiers as well as the people of Hong Kong. Besides, the Governor went ahead with his proposal to abolish all appointed membership in 1995, disregarding the majority views of the Urban Council and District Boards. To this I express strong dissatisfaction. I also find it regrettable that the Urban Council is going to lose its appointed members who are far-sighted, intelligent and capable. This will be a loss both to the Council and the community. Mr. Chairman, 'Enriching City Life' is the objective and slogan recently publicized by the Council. An ideal city is what over 3 million residents in the urban areas long for. But, what makes an ideal city? The criteria and standard vary from person to person. Those who live in Repulse Bay may crave for better beach facilities to complement their good life while dwellers in public housing estates would want the government to continue to look after them by allowing them to enjoy the benefit of a more spacious flat at a lower rent. What most urban residents would like to have are a comfortable living environment, good municipal facilities and so on. As far as their expectations of a city are concerned, every Hong Kong resident definitely has more than one single dream. The Urban Council is obliged to satisfy their reasonable demands and aspirations. As for their views and complaints, I and my colleagues in the Council will try our best to handle and reflect them. Among many views and
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